EP0709490B1 - Plating method by means of an electroless gold plating solution and system therefor - Google Patents

Plating method by means of an electroless gold plating solution and system therefor Download PDF

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Publication number
EP0709490B1
EP0709490B1 EP95307577A EP95307577A EP0709490B1 EP 0709490 B1 EP0709490 B1 EP 0709490B1 EP 95307577 A EP95307577 A EP 95307577A EP 95307577 A EP95307577 A EP 95307577A EP 0709490 B1 EP0709490 B1 EP 0709490B1
Authority
EP
European Patent Office
Prior art keywords
plating
temperature
tank
plating solution
solution
Prior art date
Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
Expired - Lifetime
Application number
EP95307577A
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German (de)
English (en)
French (fr)
Other versions
EP0709490A1 (en
Inventor
Takayuki Sone
Hiroshi Wachi
Current Assignee (The listed assignees may be inaccurate. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation or warranty as to the accuracy of the list.)
EEJA Ltd
Original Assignee
Electroplating Engineers of Japan Ltd
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Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by Electroplating Engineers of Japan Ltd filed Critical Electroplating Engineers of Japan Ltd
Publication of EP0709490A1 publication Critical patent/EP0709490A1/en
Application granted granted Critical
Publication of EP0709490B1 publication Critical patent/EP0709490B1/en
Anticipated expiration legal-status Critical
Expired - Lifetime legal-status Critical Current

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Classifications

    • C—CHEMISTRY; METALLURGY
    • C23—COATING METALLIC MATERIAL; COATING MATERIAL WITH METALLIC MATERIAL; CHEMICAL SURFACE TREATMENT; DIFFUSION TREATMENT OF METALLIC MATERIAL; COATING BY VACUUM EVAPORATION, BY SPUTTERING, BY ION IMPLANTATION OR BY CHEMICAL VAPOUR DEPOSITION, IN GENERAL; INHIBITING CORROSION OF METALLIC MATERIAL OR INCRUSTATION IN GENERAL
    • C23C—COATING METALLIC MATERIAL; COATING MATERIAL WITH METALLIC MATERIAL; SURFACE TREATMENT OF METALLIC MATERIAL BY DIFFUSION INTO THE SURFACE, BY CHEMICAL CONVERSION OR SUBSTITUTION; COATING BY VACUUM EVAPORATION, BY SPUTTERING, BY ION IMPLANTATION OR BY CHEMICAL VAPOUR DEPOSITION, IN GENERAL
    • C23C18/00—Chemical coating by decomposition of either liquid compounds or solutions of the coating forming compounds, without leaving reaction products of surface material in the coating; Contact plating
    • C23C18/16—Chemical coating by decomposition of either liquid compounds or solutions of the coating forming compounds, without leaving reaction products of surface material in the coating; Contact plating by reduction or substitution, e.g. electroless plating
    • C23C18/31—Coating with metals
    • C23C18/42—Coating with noble metals
    • C23C18/44—Coating with noble metals using reducing agents
    • C—CHEMISTRY; METALLURGY
    • C23—COATING METALLIC MATERIAL; COATING MATERIAL WITH METALLIC MATERIAL; CHEMICAL SURFACE TREATMENT; DIFFUSION TREATMENT OF METALLIC MATERIAL; COATING BY VACUUM EVAPORATION, BY SPUTTERING, BY ION IMPLANTATION OR BY CHEMICAL VAPOUR DEPOSITION, IN GENERAL; INHIBITING CORROSION OF METALLIC MATERIAL OR INCRUSTATION IN GENERAL
    • C23C—COATING METALLIC MATERIAL; COATING MATERIAL WITH METALLIC MATERIAL; SURFACE TREATMENT OF METALLIC MATERIAL BY DIFFUSION INTO THE SURFACE, BY CHEMICAL CONVERSION OR SUBSTITUTION; COATING BY VACUUM EVAPORATION, BY SPUTTERING, BY ION IMPLANTATION OR BY CHEMICAL VAPOUR DEPOSITION, IN GENERAL
    • C23C18/00—Chemical coating by decomposition of either liquid compounds or solutions of the coating forming compounds, without leaving reaction products of surface material in the coating; Contact plating
    • C23C18/16—Chemical coating by decomposition of either liquid compounds or solutions of the coating forming compounds, without leaving reaction products of surface material in the coating; Contact plating by reduction or substitution, e.g. electroless plating
    • C23C18/1601—Process or apparatus
    • C23C18/1619—Apparatus for electroless plating
    • C—CHEMISTRY; METALLURGY
    • C23—COATING METALLIC MATERIAL; COATING MATERIAL WITH METALLIC MATERIAL; CHEMICAL SURFACE TREATMENT; DIFFUSION TREATMENT OF METALLIC MATERIAL; COATING BY VACUUM EVAPORATION, BY SPUTTERING, BY ION IMPLANTATION OR BY CHEMICAL VAPOUR DEPOSITION, IN GENERAL; INHIBITING CORROSION OF METALLIC MATERIAL OR INCRUSTATION IN GENERAL
    • C23C—COATING METALLIC MATERIAL; COATING MATERIAL WITH METALLIC MATERIAL; SURFACE TREATMENT OF METALLIC MATERIAL BY DIFFUSION INTO THE SURFACE, BY CHEMICAL CONVERSION OR SUBSTITUTION; COATING BY VACUUM EVAPORATION, BY SPUTTERING, BY ION IMPLANTATION OR BY CHEMICAL VAPOUR DEPOSITION, IN GENERAL
    • C23C18/00—Chemical coating by decomposition of either liquid compounds or solutions of the coating forming compounds, without leaving reaction products of surface material in the coating; Contact plating
    • C23C18/16—Chemical coating by decomposition of either liquid compounds or solutions of the coating forming compounds, without leaving reaction products of surface material in the coating; Contact plating by reduction or substitution, e.g. electroless plating
    • C23C18/1601—Process or apparatus
    • C23C18/1633—Process of electroless plating
    • C23C18/1655—Process features
    • C23C18/1664—Process features with additional means during the plating process
    • C23C18/1669—Agitation, e.g. air introduction
    • C—CHEMISTRY; METALLURGY
    • C23—COATING METALLIC MATERIAL; COATING MATERIAL WITH METALLIC MATERIAL; CHEMICAL SURFACE TREATMENT; DIFFUSION TREATMENT OF METALLIC MATERIAL; COATING BY VACUUM EVAPORATION, BY SPUTTERING, BY ION IMPLANTATION OR BY CHEMICAL VAPOUR DEPOSITION, IN GENERAL; INHIBITING CORROSION OF METALLIC MATERIAL OR INCRUSTATION IN GENERAL
    • C23C—COATING METALLIC MATERIAL; COATING MATERIAL WITH METALLIC MATERIAL; SURFACE TREATMENT OF METALLIC MATERIAL BY DIFFUSION INTO THE SURFACE, BY CHEMICAL CONVERSION OR SUBSTITUTION; COATING BY VACUUM EVAPORATION, BY SPUTTERING, BY ION IMPLANTATION OR BY CHEMICAL VAPOUR DEPOSITION, IN GENERAL
    • C23C18/00—Chemical coating by decomposition of either liquid compounds or solutions of the coating forming compounds, without leaving reaction products of surface material in the coating; Contact plating
    • C23C18/16—Chemical coating by decomposition of either liquid compounds or solutions of the coating forming compounds, without leaving reaction products of surface material in the coating; Contact plating by reduction or substitution, e.g. electroless plating
    • C23C18/1601—Process or apparatus
    • C23C18/1633—Process of electroless plating
    • C23C18/1675—Process conditions
    • C23C18/168—Control of temperature, e.g. temperature of bath, substrate
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H05—ELECTRIC TECHNIQUES NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
    • H05K—PRINTED CIRCUITS; CASINGS OR CONSTRUCTIONAL DETAILS OF ELECTRIC APPARATUS; MANUFACTURE OF ASSEMBLAGES OF ELECTRICAL COMPONENTS
    • H05K3/00—Apparatus or processes for manufacturing printed circuits
    • H05K3/10—Apparatus or processes for manufacturing printed circuits in which conductive material is applied to the insulating support in such a manner as to form the desired conductive pattern
    • H05K3/18—Apparatus or processes for manufacturing printed circuits in which conductive material is applied to the insulating support in such a manner as to form the desired conductive pattern using precipitation techniques to apply the conductive material
    • H05K3/181—Apparatus or processes for manufacturing printed circuits in which conductive material is applied to the insulating support in such a manner as to form the desired conductive pattern using precipitation techniques to apply the conductive material by electroless plating
    • H05K3/187—Apparatus or processes for manufacturing printed circuits in which conductive material is applied to the insulating support in such a manner as to form the desired conductive pattern using precipitation techniques to apply the conductive material by electroless plating means therefor, e.g. baths, apparatus

Definitions

  • the present invention relates to a plating method, and more particularly, to a plating method by means of an electroless gold plating solution.
  • gold is generally deposited via a reducing agent contained in a plating solution.
  • Gold plating by means of such an electroless gold plating solution has been widely applied, for example, to precision electronic parts, but the plating regions of substances to be plated tend to be more complex and finer recently, and accordingly the use of an electroless gold plating solution with a higher reduction force has been required.
  • Such increase of the reduction force is inevitable for the application to substances to be plated which have more complex and finer plating regions.
  • new drawbacks involved in the increase of the reduction force have also occurred.
  • the reduction force will be high above a required level to readily plate portions other than the regions to be intended for plating.
  • air in the form of air bubbles is supplied into the plating solution to increase dissolved oxygen whereby the reaction of a reducing agent should be controlled.
  • gold deposition may serve as an element affecting the life of a plating solution, and it has been found that once fine gold particles are generated, gold deposition readily increases in quantity by using the particles as the nucleus, and that therefore, the removal of the gold particles generated via gold deposition at an appropriate cycle should be effective for the suppression of the increase of gold deposition, namely for the prolonged life of the plating solution.
  • US-A-4616596 discloses a method of electroless metal plating in which an oxygen-containing gas is introduced into the plating solution to improve the characteristics of the deposit, including smoothness, and to prevent decomposition of the plating solution.
  • a plating method by means of an electroless gold plating solution comprising supplying air uniformly in the form of air bubbles over an entire region in a plating tank which corresponds to a plating region of a substance to be plated, placing the substance in the plating tank, and adjusting the air supply depending on the temperature of the plating solution so that air to be supplied when the temperature of the plating solution is the temperature in the state of plating is greater than that to be supplied when the temperature of the plating solution is the temperature in the state under storage, wherein the air supply ranges from 0.5 to 5 liters per minute per 100 cm 2 dispersion face of ascending air bubbles and 0.05 to 0.5 liter per minute per 100 cm 2 dispersion face of ascending air bubbles when the temperature of the plating solution is the temperature in the state of plating and when the temperature of the plating solution is the temperature in the state under storage, respectively.
  • a plating system by means of an electroless gold plating solution in which air is uniformly supplied in the form of air bubbles over an entire region in a plating tank which corresponds to a plating region of a substance to be plated, the substance being placed in the plating tank, wherein there are arranged a flow adjusting means to adjust the air supply into air dispersing bodies, and a liquid temperature detecting means to detect the temperature of the plating solution, so that the flow adjusting means works in connection to the temperature detected by the liquid temperature detecting means, thereby allowing adjustment of the air supply to the plating solution depending on the temperature of the plating solution, such that the air supply ranges from 0.5 to 5 liters per minute per 100 cm 2 dispersion face of ascending air bubbles and 0.05 to 0.5 liter per minute per 100 cm 2 dispersion face of ascending air bubbles when the temperature of the plating solution is the temperature in the state of plating and when the temperature of the plating solution is the temperature in the temperature in the
  • the uniform supply of air means that the irregularities of air mixing in the plating solution can be eliminated, leading to more uniform plating.
  • the invention allows the air supply to be increased in the state where the temperature of the plating solution is so high that the reductive reaction readily occurs, and to be decreased in the state where the temperature of the plating solution is so low that the reductive reaction scarcely occurs, i.e. in the state where less dissolved oxygen is required.
  • the air supply should be close to the lower limit required for controlling the reduction force of the reducing agent, to suppress the decomposition of the agent as much as possible.
  • the relatively wide range of air supply levels of the invention is due to the difference in the level of required dissolved oxygen, depending on the form and size of a plating region of a substance to be plated.
  • the air dispersing bodies to be used in the plating method and the plating system in accordance with the present invention are preferably made of porous materials, and when such porous materials are used, a large number of air holes of a hole size of 100 ⁇ m or less may be readily in preparation at an extremely short interval.
  • the air dispersing bodies using such porous materials may preferably be of a structure formed by preparing porous materials in a tubular form of an appropriate size and then arranging the materials in a horizontal direction or of a box-like structure with the air dispersing face made of the porous materials.
  • the lower limit of the hole size of the air holes herein, the smaller the hole size is, the more preferable it is because of the reasons described above. Therefore, in general, the hole size of a porous material as described above is possibly in a range of about 1 ⁇ m, with no specific reason for the limitation.
  • the plating solution is rapidly cooled down to a predetermined temperature to make as short as possible the period of the state where the liquid temperature is so high that air supply should be increased, when after the use, the plating solution is stored as it is in a plating tank until next plating operation.
  • the plating solution is preferably rapidly cooled in a plating tank enclosed by an outer circumference tank in which a low-temperature solution continuously flows for rapid cooling, and the solution is heated in the plating tank enclosed by the outer circumference tank in which a heat-source solution is stored and heated for heating the solution.
  • the transfer from the heated state to the cooled state is rapidly attained, advantageously for the intention to shorten the period of the state at a high temperature as much as possible as described above and also for the simplification of the system structure.
  • the plating solution in the plating tank may be filtered to remove gold particles via gold deposition when a predetermined amount of gold is deposited in the plating tank.
  • the plating system to carry out such a plating method in accordance with the present invention should preferably be of a structure wherein there is arranged in addition the individual structural components, a filter unit composed of a filter device connected to the bottom of the plating tank, a storage tank for storing the plating solution filtered with the filter device, and a suction part placed between the filter device and the storage tank to suck up the plating solution flowing from the plating tank into the filter device, whereby the gold particles via gold deposition can be removed by filtering the plating solution in the plating tank when a predetermined amount of gold is deposited in the plating tank.
  • Filtering can be carried out by the filter unit, with no use of a circulation pump which readily generates gold deposition to shorten the life of the plating solution or which will require troublesome post-treatment works. Therefore, filtering can be carried out more effectively so as to prolong the life of the plating solution.
  • the plating system of the present invention has a plating tank 1 formed in a box-like form with an open top, on the bottom of which are arranged air dispersing bodies 2, wherein compressed air fed from a compressed air supply source (not shown in the figure) is fed in the form of air bubbles through the air dispersing bodies 2 into a plating solution L in a plating tank 1.
  • a compressed air supply source not shown in the figure
  • a flow adjusting means is arranged in a circuit for feeding compressed air into the air dispersing bodies 2, and the supply of compressed air to the air dispersing bodies 2 is to be adjusted automatically depending on the liquid temperature of the plating solution L by the sequential operation of a liquid temperature detecting means detecting the liquid temperature of the plating solution L with the flow adjusting means.
  • the air dispersing bodies 2 are formed by fixing air dispersing tubes 3 to frames 2f and then arranging a plurality of the tubes in a horizontal direction (Fig.2).
  • Each of the air dispersing tubes 3 has a size of around 3 cm in diameter, and is arranged at a very short interval of several mm, whereby air bubbles released from the outer circumference of each of the air dispersing tubes 3 ascend in uniform dispersion throughout the plating solution L from the bottom of the plating tank 1.
  • the plating tank 1 is also enclosed by an outer circumference tank 4 formed in a box-like form with the top open.
  • the outer circumference tank 4 is for heating the plating solution in the plating tank 1 indirectly or for cooling the solution indirectly, and stores water W as a heat source liquid, which is heated with heater 5 for heating the plating solution L in the plating tank 1 or which is overflowed from overflow part 7 on the opposite side of water inlet tube 6 while water is continuously fed from the tube 6 during cooling, whereby the plating solution L in the plating tank 1 is rapidly cooled.
  • filter unit 8 is connected to the plating tank 1.
  • the filter unit 8 is composed of a filter device 10 connected through a valve 9 to the bottom of the plating tank 1, and a storage tank 12 connected through a suction part 11 to the filter device 10, and when the suction part 11 is sucked with a suction means, not shown, to put the part under a negative pressure while the valve 9 is in open state, the plating solution L is sucked from the plating tank 1 into the filter device 10 via the suction force corresponding to the pressure, where gold particles from gold deposition are filtered off to store the resulting solution in the storage tank 12.
  • the plating solution stored in the storage tank 12 is fed back directly from the storage tank 12 taken off from the filter unit 8 into the plating tank 1 for recycling, excluding the case that the life of the solution is over.
  • Plating process using the plating system was done under the following conditions. A plurality of electronic parts, substances to be plated, were fixed in each of a pair of two racks R, R as shown in Fig.1, which were then immersed in the plating solution L. While the liquid temperature around 70 °C during plating operation is kept, air supply in such state was maintained at 2 liters / minute / 100 cm 2 . While intermediately interrupting the plating procedure and inserting a single process for cooling the plating solution down to room temperature to put the solution in the state under storage and a single process for adjusting the air supply to 0.2 liter / minute / 100 cm 2 , plating process was carried out until the plating solution was impossible to use.
  • the filtration of gold particles by means of the filter unit 8 was carried out every 1 turn.
  • the term “turn” means the cycle required for depositing gold of a weight corresponding to the weight of gold initially contained in the plating solution onto a substance to be plated, and 4 g is designated 1 turn in this example.
  • Table 1 shows the results in comparison with those from a conventional method.
  • the term “liquid life” in Table 1 means the retaining period for effective plating.
  • Fig.3 shows air dispersing bodies 15 in another example, which are structurally formed wholly in a box-like form with a dimension corresponding to the size of a plating tank and whose upper top is formed of a porous plastic plate 16 to prepare the top as an air dispersing face.
  • gold plating by means of an electroless gold plating solution can be done more uniformly, and additionally, the life of the plating solution can be prolonged, whereby high-quality plating process onto electronic parts increasingly requiring highly precise plating can be achieved at a higher efficiency.

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  • Chemical & Material Sciences (AREA)
  • General Chemical & Material Sciences (AREA)
  • Chemical Kinetics & Catalysis (AREA)
  • Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
  • Materials Engineering (AREA)
  • Mechanical Engineering (AREA)
  • Metallurgy (AREA)
  • Organic Chemistry (AREA)
  • Chemically Coating (AREA)
EP95307577A 1994-10-26 1995-10-25 Plating method by means of an electroless gold plating solution and system therefor Expired - Lifetime EP0709490B1 (en)

Applications Claiming Priority (4)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
JP262893/94 1994-10-26
JP26289394 1994-10-26
JP307381/94 1994-12-12
JP30738194A JP3441539B2 (ja) 1994-10-26 1994-12-12 無電解金めっき液によるめっき方法及びその装置

Publications (2)

Publication Number Publication Date
EP0709490A1 EP0709490A1 (en) 1996-05-01
EP0709490B1 true EP0709490B1 (en) 1998-06-17

Family

ID=26545759

Family Applications (1)

Application Number Title Priority Date Filing Date
EP95307577A Expired - Lifetime EP0709490B1 (en) 1994-10-26 1995-10-25 Plating method by means of an electroless gold plating solution and system therefor

Country Status (5)

Country Link
US (1) US5691003A (es)
EP (1) EP0709490B1 (es)
JP (1) JP3441539B2 (es)
DE (1) DE69503020T2 (es)
ES (1) ES2117836T3 (es)

Families Citing this family (6)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
EP1009737A2 (en) 1997-07-31 2000-06-21 The Procter & Gamble Company Sulfonylamino substituted hydroxamic acid derivatives as metalloprotease inhibitors
US8257781B1 (en) * 2002-06-28 2012-09-04 Novellus Systems, Inc. Electroless plating-liquid system
DE10235032B3 (de) * 2002-07-31 2004-04-08 Hydrometer Gmbh Verfahren zum Betrieb eines Ultraschall-Durchflußmessers und entsprechender Ultraschall-Durchflußmesser
JP4923773B2 (ja) * 2006-06-19 2012-04-25 セイコーエプソン株式会社 めっき装置及びめっき方法
US8937014B2 (en) * 2010-10-14 2015-01-20 Tokyo Electron Limited Liquid treatment apparatus and liquid treatment method
CN113873774B (zh) * 2021-09-15 2023-08-29 江苏贺鸿电子有限公司 一种印刷电路板制作的水平沉铜装置

Family Cites Families (6)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US4152467A (en) * 1978-03-10 1979-05-01 International Business Machines Corporation Electroless copper plating process with dissolved oxygen maintained in bath
US4388346A (en) * 1981-11-25 1983-06-14 Beggs James M Administrator Of Electrodes for solid state devices
US4616596A (en) * 1985-10-21 1986-10-14 Hughes Aircraft Company Electroless plating apparatus
JPS63312983A (ja) * 1987-06-16 1988-12-21 Hitachi Ltd 無電解銅めっき方法
JP2866676B2 (ja) * 1989-09-18 1999-03-08 株式会社日立製作所 無電解金めっき液及びそれを用いた金めっき方法
JPH0539579A (ja) * 1991-08-02 1993-02-19 Mitsubishi Electric Corp 無電解めつき装置

Also Published As

Publication number Publication date
JPH08176839A (ja) 1996-07-09
EP0709490A1 (en) 1996-05-01
DE69503020T2 (de) 1998-11-19
ES2117836T3 (es) 1998-08-16
US5691003A (en) 1997-11-25
JP3441539B2 (ja) 2003-09-02
DE69503020D1 (de) 1998-07-23

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